Filings down less than 1 percent from Q2 2011, down 33 percent from a year ago

Foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 6,906 Missouri properties during the third quarter of 2011, down slightly from the second quarter of 2011 and 33 percent below the level reported for the same quarter last year, according to the latest RealtyTrac® U.S. Foreclosure Market Report.

One in every 388 Missouri housing units had a foreclosure filing during the quarter, the 30th highest foreclosure rate in the nation.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 2,321 Missouri properties in September, a 15 percent decrease from August and down 39 percent from September 2010. One in every 1,156 Missouri housing units had a foreclosure filing in September, the 31st highest state foreclosure rate in the nation.

Jackson County posted top foreclosure rate for the third quarter One in every 198 housing units in Jackson County had a foreclosure filing during the third quarter of 2011 — 1.1 times the national average and twice the state average. Clay County had the second highest rate with one in every 205 housing units reporting a foreclosure filing — on par with the national average and 1.9 times the state average. Taney County had the third highest rate, reporting one in every 218 housing units with a foreclosure filing — on par with the national average and 1.8 times the state average.

Saint Louis County leads the state in foreclosure activity for third quarter The highest level of foreclosure activity for the quarter was in Saint Louis County, where 1,680 properties with foreclosure filings were reported. Jackson County was second highest in the state, reporting 1,574 properties with foreclosure filings. Third highest total was tallied in Saint Louis City, where 728 properties with foreclosure filings were reported. Reporting 590 properties with foreclosure filings for the quarter, Saint Charles County registered the fourth highest total in the state. Fifth highest was Clay County, where 463 properties with foreclosure filings were reported for the quarter.

State a minor contributor to nation’s foreclosure total in the third quarter Missouri accounted for 1 percent of the 610,337 properties with foreclosure filings reported nationwide for the third quarter of 2011. Total U.S. activity was up slightly from the second quarter of 2011, but was down 34 percent from the level reported for the same quarter in 2010. One in every 213 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

“U.S. foreclosure activity has been mired down since October of last year, when the robo-signing controversy sparked a flurry of investigations into lender foreclosure procedures and paperwork,” said James Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “While foreclosure activity in September and the third quarter continued to register well below levels from a year ago, there is evidence that this temporary downward trend is about to change direction, with foreclosure activity slowly beginning to ramp back up.” “Third quarter foreclosure activity increased marginally from the previous quarter, breaking a trend of three consecutive quarterly decreases that started in the fourth quarter of 2010,” Saccacio continued. “This marginal increase in overall foreclosure activity was fueled by a 14 percent jump in new default notices, indicating that lenders are cautiously throwing more wood into the foreclosure fireplace after spending months trying to clear the chimney of sloppily filed foreclosures.”

About RealtyTrac

RealtyTrac® is the leading provider of comprehensive housing data and analytics for the real estate and financial services industries, Federal, state and local governments, academic institutions, and the media. Data is aggregated from parcel-level records of more than 125 million U.S. residential and commercial properties and delivered through customizable products including bulk file licensing, APIs and custom reports.